(Newser)
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Protesters in Thailand stormed the national army headquarters today, breaking into their latest high-profile target in a bid to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The crowd of about 1,200 people broke the padlocked gate at the Royal Thai Army compound and forced their way inside, saying they wanted to submit a letter to the army chief. "They are now gathering in the courtyard, but they have not entered buildings," an army spokesman says. "We will make them understand that this is a security area and we will ask them to leave."

Yingluck has been reluctant to use force to evict the opposition-led protesters for fear of escalating a tense political crisis and sparking bloodshed, and security forces have done little to stop the crowds who have spent the week seizing government buildings and camping out at several of them in an effort to force a government shutdown and get civil servants to join their rally. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, who resigned as an opposition Democrat Party lawmaker to lead the protests, wants to rid the country of the influence of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra—Yingluck's exiled billionaire brother.